


Get Me (7 Nights)

by RayQueen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Astoria Greengrass, Draco deserves better, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Good Draco Malfoy, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Third Person Limited, Ravenclaw Astoria, Song fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26903629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayQueen/pseuds/RayQueen
Summary: Draco Malfoy is vacationing in Italy when his nightmares don't let him sleep. It turns out that he's not the only former Hogwarts student with sleeping problems in that hotel. Over the course of 7 nights, everything will change for Draco and Astoria.
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy
Kudos: 14





	Get Me (7 Nights)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Camp Hogwarts from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)
> 
> Challenges listed below
> 
> Word Count – 4378
> 
> A.N.: A huge thanks to anyone who took the time to beta this fic. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here.

_Night 1_

Draco had been tossing and turning for over an hour when he finally decided to take a walk around the hotel. After another one of his recurring nightmares, he looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 3 in the morning. He wouldn't have to wake up for another 5 hours, so he figured he would go back to sleep, but life had other plans for him. At 4-something, he got up, threw his robes on and left for the garden.

Merlin knew he needed that vacation more than anything. Since graduating Hogwarts 6 years ago, Draco had been working like crazy. Proving yourself to be a good mediwizard was hard work, proving it on top of being a former Death Eater was almost excruciating. When his mentor suggested that he take a little vacation, he was terrified that it was his way of firing him. Draco was not exactly used to people worrying about his well-being.

A week later he had packed his bags and left for Italy, promising his boss that he would be back in two weeks. Draco smiled at the memory of his mentor's easy laugh, telling him to just have fun and not think about work for a little while. He really liked the man.

The blond man reached the beautiful bridge that crossed the swimming pool, and standing right in the middle of it, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

His eyes snapped open and he almost got whiplash from turning his head too fast when something made a cracking sound behind him.

"Oh, hi," greeted a dark-haired woman shyly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Draco considered merely grunting in reply, but thought better of it. The woman seemed familiar.

"Yeah, no problem. I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here at this hour. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I could say the same, you know. It's pretty late, Mr. Malfoy." She raised an eyebrow.

"So we do know each other, then."

She smiled. "Well, not quite. I know _of_ you. My sister, Daphne, was in your year and house."

"Daphne Greengrass?"

"That would be her, yes."

She started moving towards the bridge as he nodded in acknowledgement, and he turned his gaze to the blue water below.

"I'm Astoria, by the way. I was a Ravenclaw." She received no reply. "I saw a very nice Quidditch pitch over there while I was walking around the gardens. Care for a little game?"

The invitation startled Draco. Before, he hadn't replied because he wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. This time, he really was speechless. He was getting ready to attack and bite her head off for prying into his business. He was sure that the hazel-eyed woman by his side was going to ask him what he was doing there, but she didn't seem to care. He was even more surprised when he agreed to go.

That's what they did for hours until the sun came up. Astoria was a surprisingly good player. She was not as fast as he was, but she could intercept the Quaffles he threw better than he could, which made for quite an interesting match. They didn't talk much, except for the regular trash talk and praises related to the game, but as Draco returned to his hotel room, he felt lighter. It was the first time in years that he didn't spend the rest of the night thinking about his nightmares and blaming himself for many of the things that happened during the war.

_Night 2_

"Oh, hey! Couldn't sleep?"

By the time Draco got down after another one of his nightmares, Astoria was already sitting on the cobblestones by the pool. Her pants were rolled halfway up her shins and feet immersed in the cool water.

"Uh, yeah. You?"

He wasn't expecting to see her again. He knew they were in the same hotel, but so were many other people and Draco didn't think he had run into any of them more than once. And he definitely didn't make small talk with the others.

"Yep. It's been happening a lot, really."

Draco had no idea how to respond. It had been a while since people tried to talk to him at all, no matter how many organizations he had made hefty donations to or how many times he tried to redeem himself. He had run out of practice for social interactions, so he just nodded and stood by awkwardly.

"Wanna play a game?" Her voice cut him out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"A game. It's just something I did when I was back at Hogwarts. It's nice. I promise you."

"Hm, okay. I guess."

"Great. Why don't you sit down? It's uncomfortable to be looking up at you like this."

Draco took a step forward and knelt down to roll his pants up and join her. Astoria turned a little, taking one foot out of the water. Her knee lightly brushing his leg and body angled towards him. Ravenclaw bronze eyes locked on Slytherin silver, and he did not dare to look away.

"You have to answer the question with one word only. If you fail, you're going to have to answer a deeply personal question truthfully, alright?"

"Where did that idea come from?" he asked. They played games in the Slytherin Common Room, just like any other group of teenagers, but never something that personal.

"This is something we used to do in the Ravenclaw Common Room on Wednesday nights. Every week we had one question to answer so we could get to know each other better. We called them "Conspiracy Sessions". Everyone participated"

"Clever."

"Yeah, because a group of ravens is called a conspiracy and all. We thought we were killing it in the pun department." She shook her head.

"But why Wednesdays?"

"It changed from time to time, but we conduct a poll at the beginning of each year to see what day people dread the most, so we can have it and make people look forward to something, you know? So we can make it easier for them. While I was there, there were four years when the sessions were on Wednesdays, two on Tuesdays and one on Thursday."

"What about Monday?"

"Residual happiness from the weekend. It lingers a bit on Tuesday as well, so it's not as bad," she shrugged. "On Thursday, you start getting excited for the weekend. But Wednesday? Nah. Stuck in the middle. Limbo."

"I think it makes some sort of sense in a weird way."

She laughed. "It does. The years we chose Tuesday, it was because most of us had Divination and History of Magic that day. It was too much. And the Thursday was when we had classes with the Carrows back to back." She shuddered at the memory. Spending a double period with a Carrow was literal torture enough, having a double with the other with no break in between was almost unbearable.

Draco lowered his eyes. Even the briefest mention of his seventh year at Hogwarts was enough to make the feeling of guilt resurface. Astoria noticed how quiet the boy suddenly became. She cleared her throat.

"I'll start. Childhood pet?"

"Peacock." She gave him a funny look. He shrugged before he continued, "Favourite colour?"

"Grey," she replied, matter-of-factly.

"Okay, I'm gonna need an explanation on that one."

"I didn't ask to explain the peacocks, did I?" she teased. "Grey is not black or white. It's right in the middle. You can have many different tones of it, but it will always be grey. Kind of like the world and how I view it. My turn. Least favourite creature?"

"Hippogriff." He shuddered. Astoria laughed. "I take it you have heard the stories, then?"

"Oh, absolutely. I don't think a single person who was at Hogwarts during your third year hasn't heard of it."

And so, they continued. The questions were light and usually came attached to a funny story. Draco surprised himself by telling her about some of his most embarrassing moments after he saw the ease with which she shared hers.

"Alright. I have a good one," she started after recovering from a fit of laughter, courtesy of a pretty interesting story involving the Giant Squid and Blaise Zabini. "Favourite weather?"

"Cold and sunny," he replied without a second thought.

"Uh, Malfoy. Big mistake." He gave her a look of confusion. "That was _not_ one word."

His eyes went big. He had gotten so comfortable throughout the whole game that he completely forgot about the one-word rule.

"Now what?"

"Now you have to tell me your deepest, darkest secret," she teased, bumping his leg with her knee. "Let me think. Okay, I think I have one. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?"

Draco froze. He had the answer right away, of course, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to share it with her. Or anyone, really. He moved uncomfortably and stared at the ripples of water being made by their feet. Could he trust her? _Should_ he trust her? He bit the inside of his cheek. The sun peeked at them through its hiding place.

"Look." He pointed to the big burning star. "The sun is almost up. I think we should go back to bed if we want to do anything at all tomorrow during the day. It was a nice game, but I really should get going."

He said it all so fast and stood up so fast, that Astoria didn't even have time to process or try to stop him.

_Night 3_

Draco would be lying if he said he wasn't hoping to find her by the pool again. He would never tell her that, but he had gotten self-aware enough to admit it to himself. For two consecutive nights, he had felt rested, even though he practically spent those nights awake. The vacation was proving to be worth it and he would definitely send Holloway, his boss, a postcard in the morning.

When his eyes met the curtain of dark hair sitting by the bridge where they first talked, Draco smiled. It was a small one, but it was definitely a real smile. Those were rare nowadays. He made sure to make some sort of noise with his feet in order to not startle her and stood at the edge of the bridge.

"What? Are you waiting for a formal invitation to join me?" Astoria teased, with a twinkle in her eyes. Draco merely raised an eyebrow at her. "Alright, then. Mister Malfoy, would you give me the pleasure of your company tonight?"

He nodded with a smile on his lips and walked up to her, sitting cross-legged by her side. He felt relieved that she hadn't been mad at the way he ran away last night. "Okay, Miss Greengrass. I'll entertain you tonight."

"Good, because there's something I need help with." She handed him an empty glass and set a bottle of red wine between them. "Daphne sent me this and I find it very sad to drink on my own."

Draco laughed darkly. He had experience drinking alone. In fact, it was all he did lately when he got home from a bad day at work. He agreed with her, though. Drinking alone was sad.

"May I?" He asked, gesturing to the bottles and their glasses.

"By all means, go ahead," she said, handing him the wine.

Draco took the cork out with his wand and poured some for both of them.

"Nah," Astoria said when she saw how much he put it. "We are not at one of those ridiculously fancy parties. Fill it to the brim, will you?"

Draco Malfoy laughed. The throw your head back kind of laugh. He didn't really understand why, but the act of filling a glass of red wine all the way to the top was insanely funny. He could see his mother's disapproving look reflected on the dark liquid.

Astoria let out a more controlled one. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's funny. You have a contagious laugh."

Draco smiled. "It's alright." He straightened his legs and let them dangle over the pool, his overly full glass of wine in his hands.

"Okay, drinking game?" Astoria suggested.

"Hm, yeah, sure," he agreed. He had played his fair share of drinking games in the Slytherin Common Room, but never with just one other person. "What did you use to play with the other Ravenclaws?"

"You're not going to like it. It's better if you choose this time," she said, already taking a swig of her glass.

Draco did the same with his glass. "Come on. Try me."

"Well, we usually quizzed each other on Hogwarts' subjects and if we got a question wrong we had to drink."

"You turned your study sessions into drinking games? No wonder you all got so good grades! I would study all the time too if it meant I got to drink during it."

"It was not all the time, okay?" she protested. "What do you think we are? Alcoholics?"

"I don't know, really. I'm discovering a lot about Ravenclaws. I thought you were dull little nerds, to be honest."

Astoria slapped his arm playfully. "So unfair!"

"Alright, alright. No need to get physical. Let's give this game of yours a try, then."

The more they played, the drunker they got. Draco realized he didn't remember a single thing from History of Magic and Astoria would bomb Herbology if she ever had to retake it. The laughs were coming easily now, with Astoria giggling at every question she got wrong and shrugging, saying, "Oh, man, I guess I have to drink some more."

Soon, one bottle became two, then three and when Astoria almost knocked herself over in the head _accio'ing_ the fourth one, Draco decided that it was time to stop. They were way too drunk to continue drinking like that, and one of them was certainly going to end up in an alcohol-induced coma.

 _Probably Astoria,_ Draco thought. Astoria hiccoughed. _Definitely Astoria,_ he corrected himself.

"Astoria, I think we should go back inside."

"Don't call me that. Astoria is too obnoxious of a name, Call me Tori." She was surprisingly firm for someone that wasted.

"Hm, okay. Sure. Come on." He tried to get up, but his head spun.

"I think we're stuck here a little longer, aren't we?" She asked when she saw him sit back down.

"I guess so."

"Maybe we can go for a swim," she said.

Before he could process what was going on, Astoria sat closer to the edge of the bridge and jumped inside the swimming pool. Draco looked down, alarmed, but the pool was not deep enough for her to have to swim to stay afloat and he knew she was in _no state_ to swim. Since walking was off the table, he followed her in. The splash of cold water sobering him up a little.

They moved to the edge of the swimming pool, resting their elbows over the cobblestones. Astoria's wet hair clung to her face and it was driving Draco mad. He reached over to take the piece that was too close to her eyes, and noticed how her eyes took a minute longer on his forearm than normal. He retreated his hand and covered the red reminder of his biggest mistake with the other.

She didn't ask, and for once he was eager to answer. He needed to talk and who better to listen than an almost stranger that had been as drunk as he was in a hotel swimming pool? And so he did. He finally shared with someone his story. All the guilt, the anguish, the fear. His darkest feelings and thoughts were poured with his tears.

She didn't try to excuse his behaviour on account of his age like most people in his social circle tried to do and he needed that. Of course, he was young, but he knew right from wrong well enough. He was a bigoted child and he recognized it. He was trying to change, as well. It has not been an easy road, but he was willing to try and he needed people to recognize it. Dismissing his past actions was the same as dismissing all his hard work to change it. And she just stood there, her arm around his shoulders and hand playing with his wet hair, listening to everything.

_Night 4_

Draco was definitely not eager to go downstairs this time. Shame burned hot in his face just at the thought of facing the one person who had heard all the nastiest things he had done and seen. He lay in his bed, with the sheet all the way up to his eyeballs, contemplating leaving Italy and vacationing somewhere else. Bloody wine. Why did he have to drink it? Bloody pool. Why did he have to go down there in the first place? Bloody Astoria. Why did it have to be so easy to talk to her?

He decided that he was not going. It was pretty obvious that she wouldn't want to see him again after everything he told her. Why would she? She probably only talked to him in the first place because she forgot who he really was. Yes, that was it. For sure.

Alright, maybe he should check. He didn't want to leave her there alone, right? Draco looked at the clock on the wall. Four in the morning. He usually went down at 3 a.m., sometimes 2 a.m. It was of no use now. Too late. He grunted and rolled over.

Draco heard a knock on the door. "Draco? Are you up?" Astoria's voice came from the other side.

He jumped out of bed and picked up the first clean shirt he found on top of the dresser. He was still with the shirt halfway down when he yanked the door open.

"Uh, hi," he said, trying to sound more composed than he actually felt.

"Do you think it's nice to keep a lady waiting?" She asked, pushing him out of the way to enter his bedroom.

"I didn't know you were waiting," he tried to defend himself.

"Oh, bullshit, Malfoy. We have met for the past three nights. Don't play dumb with me now." She stopped in the middle of the room and crossed her arms. "I thought something had happened."

"Nothing happened," he started. Then a thought occurred to him. "How did you find my room?"

"Nico told me," she said. Nico was the receptionist of the hotel. He looked like a nice enough person, but very professional. Not the kind of person who would just give out guests' information. "He's a friend of the family," she clarified.

Draco just nodded. He scratched the back of his neck embarrassedly.

"So," she pressed. "Are you going to tell me or what?"

Draco exhaled sharply. "I was embarrassed," he said in a very low voice.

"I can't hear you."

"I was embarrassed," he repeated a little louder.

"Embarrassed of what? Oh, for Rowena's sake. You're not embarrassed because of what you told me, are you?" Draco looked away and she sighed. "You're unbelievable. We all did things we're not proud of, you moron."

Draco merely looked at her. Astoria sat down on his bed, on top of the sheet that hid him just moments earlier. She tapped the empty space beside her.

"I'm not here to fight and yell at you. I just missed having someone to talk to at night, that's all," she said when he joined her.

"You know, once you get past how annoying you are, you can be a great person to talk to as well," he joked.

"Excuse me!"

And just like that the air was light again. They talked about life before Hogwarts and their first years at the school. They talked about Quidditch and the weather. They rated their Hogwarts teachers from most to least likely to become Minister for Magic. They shifted from one topic to the other seamlessly, until the sun decided to spy on them through the gap between the closed curtains.

"Oh, wow! Have you seen the time?" Astoria said, pointing to the clock. "I should go."

Draco gave her a sad smile. "Of course. We have a long Italian day ahead of us."

She got up and he walked her to the door. Before she opened it, she turned around to face him. "I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't do this."

She didn't give him any chance to figure out what she meant by that before standing on her toes and planting a kiss on his lips. It was quick and innocent. The sweetest kiss had ever gotten.

It ended as abruptly as it had started. Astoria opened the door and all but flew out of the room. And just like that, she was gone.

_Night 5_

Draco still couldn't sleep, but this time he didn't blame the nightmares. The previous nights with Astoria had carried the lightness he was looking for when he went on that trip and he was eager to have that again. He combed his hair back, put on his robes and even dared to dab a bit of perfume on his wrists and behind his ears. He was so excited that he was practically skipping. But that night she didn't show up.

_Night 6_

"Draco," called the voice that was rapidly becoming his favourite from behind the closed doors. "I'm sorry I didn't go down last night."

He opened the door, but kept his eyes focused on the bed where they sat before. He contemplated lying to keep his ego intact. He wanted to say that he didn't know what she was talking about, because he hadn't come down either. Of course, he wasn't disappointed. That would mean that he was expecting her to be there, but Draco Malfoy didn't expect anything from anyone. He turned around to look at her, opened his mouth to talk and immediately closed it. She looked extremely pale, her hands were shaking, eyes lifeless and a little red.

"Are you okay? I thought of looking for you in your room, but Nico is not a friend of _my_ family so I was sure he wouldn't tell me where you were."

The concern is his voice was so sincere, that Astoria held back a sob. "There's something I need to tell you."

They sat down on the very same spot on the bed and she talked.

He saw the truth and emotion in her eyes as she told him all about the panic attacks she's had since the war ended and how she had such a severe one last night that she couldn't even leave the room. She told him how scared and guilty she still felt for not being able to help some of her friends. She expressed how overwhelmed she felt by the complete 180 change that her life took. She talked about how afraid she was of hospitals and the reason why she never wore white, since it resembled too much the coats she constantly saw when she visited those who were much more affected by the war than she was. She talked about how she wanted to spend more time with her sister now that they were on good terms and how she felt like a part of herself was missing when they didn't talk during the war. She explained why she had gotten so mad at him for being embarrassed at those things, because she felt the same way but didn't want to. He held her in his arms while she talked and cried, running his hand through her hair and comforting her, just like she did three nights before.

_Night 7_

They were back at the gardens. Back at the place where it all started. The place was the same, but they were not. Astoria had her hand around Draco's waist and he placed his arm around her shoulders as they walked and talked. Astoria had brought up the fact that both of them spent too much time dwelling in the past, but now it was time to start healing.

"Your past is not defined by the decisions you made at that point in time," she sighed. "Many people have forgiven you, already. Why can't you?"

"I feel like I need someone to hold me accountable for everything that I did."

"And why does it have to be you? Can't you see how much it's hurting you?"

"I hurt people. I let others hurt people. I knew it was wrong and I still let them. I'm trying to be better now, I really am, but I will always be stained."

"I'm not trying to find an excuse for what you did–"

"Good," he interrupted. "Because there are none."

"What I'm saying is that all this guilt is robbing you of the ability to see the light, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Do you remember, Draco, how it felt when the world had light?"

Draco looked around and, yes, he could remember. Not only remember, but he could see it again. It was not as bright as it once was, when he was little and dancing with his mom, standing on her feet with none of his actions weighing him down. But it was there. The colours slowly coming back, the moon shining faintly in the dark sky and the constellations he loved naming when he was a kid, but thought to have lost the ability to.

"I never intended to relate to you like this, Draco. I mean, what were the chances?"

"I know," he smiled, taking her hands in his. "I never thought I would connect with you. Especially not in these circumstances. But I did. Somehow you manage to make me smile every time you're around and I'm not ready to let it all go. So, Astoria Greengrass, how about we stop meeting only at night and spend our last week in Italy together so I can take you on proper dates?"

**Author's Note:**

> Insane House Challenge: #379 – Romantic Relationship: Draco/Astoria
> 
> Camp Hogwarts: Sports Cabin
> 
> Tug of War: Flashback (Style) Linear
> 
> Archery: 24. (genre) Romance
> 
> Dodgeball: 20. (drink) wine
> 
> Crazy Golf: Hole 6: Music-alley: Write a song!fic (Get Me – Justin Bieber ft. Kehlani)
> 
> Camp Hogwarts: Outdoors Cabin
> 
> Fairy Garden: 15. Mini wooden bridge: (genre) Fluff
> 
> Gold Panning: 4. Setting: Bridge
> 
> Horse Riding: 10. Whiskey - (restriction) all characters over 21
> 
> Fireworks Show: 10. Dragon's Egg: (character) Draco Malfoy
> 
> Bird Watching: Barn Owl (Astoria Greengrass) at sea (Hotel)
> 
> Giant Jenga: 9. (genre) fluff
> 
> Camp Hogwarts: Games Cabin
> 
> Cat & Mouse: 9. (drink) red wine
> 
> Charades: 3 Words: Write a fic over 3k
> 
> Camp Hogwarts: Adventures Cabin
> 
> We're Going Caving: Watch: (dialogue) "Have you seen the time?"
> 
> We're Going on a Nature Hunt: 2. Water from the Stream - Write a Trio Era character
> 
> Animal Tracking: Fox Prints: Write about a night person
> 
> Zipline: 15. Draco Malfoy
> 
> Camp Hogwarts: Arts and Crafts Cabin
> 
> Quilt Making: Spots and Stripes (dialogue) – 4. "You don't know how happy you make me."
> 
> Scrapbooking: Maps - Write about someone travelling
> 
> Friendship Bracelet: Small Silver Charms: 4. (character) Draco Malfoy
> 
> Camp Hogwarts: Skills Cabin
> 
> First Aid: Do rescue breaths: (pairing) Astoria/Draco (Gab/Ravenclaw)
> 
> Baking: 7. Kiss Cookies: (action) kissing
> 
> Shelter Building: : (theme) attraction
> 
> Writing Club July
> 
> Showtime: 35. We Know: (action) confessing something
> 
> Liza's Loves: 24. Blondie Ambition - Character: A Malfoy
> 
> Film Festival: 19. (object) bottle of alcohol
> 
> Lyric Alley: 24. For there'll be nights and there'll be days (inspiration)
> 
> Summer Seasonal Challenge
> 
> Romance Awareness Month: DracoAstoria
> 
> National Indoor Plant Month: Chinese Eveegreen: (setting) on/in/under water
> 
> Crystals and Gemstones: 9. Amethyst: (scenario) Getting drunk
> 
> Gryffindor OTPs: 19. Draco/Astoria
> 
> Gryffindor Challenge: 8...is in it for the glory: (character) Draco Malfoy


End file.
